Gluten-free diet: Fashion or Benefit?

In recent years there has been a lot of talk about dietary changes and their health benefits.
However, gluten has been increasingly publicised, known and its effects recognised.

Gluten is found in cereals such as wheat, rye, barley and malt, which, when added to water, forms a type of gel that acts as a kind of glue to ensure elasticity in foods such as bread, pasta, biscuits, etc....

Gluten is made up of starch, lipids and proteins, including gliadin, which gives food its extensibility, and glutenin, which gives food containing gluten its elasticity.
Due to its biochemical structure, this type of gluten is also called "triticeae gluten".

What has been observed is that people who reduce their gluten intake have noticed improvements in their bowel function and better health in general.
When the intestinal barrier becomes hyperpermeable, various unwanted micro-organisms pass into the bloodstream.
The porous intestine also allows macromolecules such as undigested protein chains and harmful chemicals to enter.
Protein fragments such as gliadin enter the bloodstream and are identified as antigens (unwanted elements) which lead to the production of specific antibodies responsible for neutralising them.
Sometimes these protein fragments have similarities with body tissues, this is called molecular mimicry.

And by molecular mimicry, antibodies can mistakenly attack tissues that have sequence similarities with these foreign fragments. This results in what is called an autoimmune reaction: the immune system attacks our body thinking that they are foreign bodies.

Dr Fassano demonstrated that hyperpermeability would be present upstream of the disease, with abnormal production of zonulin (a protein that regulates the junctions of the small intestine) by the subjects' microbial populations, and the presence of microbial translocation contributing to the development of the disease.

More generally, we can consider that limiting foods that cause intestinal hyperpermeability is the basis of good autoimmunity.

Nowadays it's possible to eat gluten-free, there's a huge range on the market at the moment, but always make sure you look at the label.
Many interesting websites and pages have gluten-free recipes, so do your research and choose the one that suits you and yours!

If you want integrative nutrition support, Dá Vida CLINIC is a specialist and will provide you with safe, personalised support.